Mobile users putting phones before family

Internet addiction is fuelling a new phenomenon dubbed ‘phubbing’ - snubbing friends and family for your smartphone.

Research shows people are increasingly ‘phubbing’ - and experiencing being ‘phubbed’ - in social situations.

The study suggests this in turn leads them to view the behaviour as normal.

The term refers to snubbing your partner to look at your phone - ‘phone’ plus ‘snubbing’ equals ‘phubbing’. And research has suggested it’s a relationship killer.

Now new research, published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, identifies three factors linked to being hooked on smartphones - internet addiction, a fear of missing out and a lack of self-control.

This smartphone addiction - in turn - was directly linked to people demonstrating phubbing behaviour.

The researchers further found it was this experience of phubbing - and of being phubbed themselves - that made people more likely to believe phubbing was ‘normal’.

Professor Karen Douglas, of Kent University, said: “Smartphones allow people to connect with others from almost anywhere at any time.

“Further, when the effect on smartphone addiction from each variable was calculated, it was revealed internet addiction and fear of missing out were positive predictors of smartphone addiction - whereas self-control negatively predicted smartphone addiction.”

The findings suggest phubbing is an important factor in modern communication that warrants further investigation.

Prof Douglas said: “A significant portion of the world’s population use smartphones to conduct their everyday lives.

“Many people simply cannot live without them. It’s therefore increasingly important for social scientists to consider the impact they have on the quality of social life.”

Last year a US study found 46 per cent of people have been ‘phubbed’ by their partner - and more than a third felt depressed by it.

The more often a couple’s time spent together was interrupted by one attending to their mobile phone the less satisfied the other was in the relationship.